Help Paul fund an Emergency Operation

Hi Friends,

This is a very hard message for me to write.

Last April I had emergency and life saving surgery on my colon. The operation was a success, but I have been left with a colostomy bag and a large incisional hernia. As you can see, from the picture above, I now look like I am seven months pregnant – it is all hernia. My skin is stretched and I am in a lot of discomfort. I am told there is less than a centimetre of skin protecting my insides and I have to wear a tight band to keep my body together. The hernia is, unfortunately, getting very big now.

All of this (colostomy and hernia) should be able to be reversed but I have, unfortunately, been told by #EastSurreyHospital that the wait time is 86 weeks. The wait is excruciating for me.

However, I have just been to see a private specialist who has said that my situation is very serious. My hernia is so big that if I do not have it repaired soon, I risk it getting bigger and me not being able to fix it at all. I don’t think I am being dramatic and that my life is at risk.

East Surrey Hospital won’t listen to the urgency. They are saying I am OK to wait for months and months but this flies in the face of all of the expertise I have sought privately. I have tried the complaints department and even the CEO and have now exhausted this avenue.

To get this done privately is going to cost me £50,000 but the stakes are really high, so I have to take a shot. I am speaking with financial advisors on how I can pull money out of my house, although it is not looking too hopeful.

I have set up a gofundme... I hate doing it. I feel it is tacky to take out my begging bowl and certainly don’t know if I can get close to what I need but anything helps. My friend says that I just need 50,000 people to donate £1 and I am there. I’m not so sure – never gone viral before

If you can help in any way I am grateful but please do share this as much as you can. That would be nice.